What I Did To Increase My
Bench Press By 50 Pounds

There are several things I've done to increase my bench press, but here's one of the most simple things you can do to increase yours:

Warm up correctly.

I don't mean just warming up before you begin the bench press, but warming up correctly all the way to the heavy sets.

In my opinion, most people do not warm up correctly before beginning their heavy sets for the bench press.

This could have a significant and negative impact on their ability to lift maximum weight and overload the muscles sufficiently.

In fact, warming up the right way is one of the best things I've ever done to increase my bench press! Why is increasing my bench press important to me? Well, if you don't increase your weight and don't achieve proper overload, there will be no new muscle fiber stimulation and no new muscle growth for the chest.

So not only did a proper warm-up lessen my chances of becoming injured, it helped me increase my bench press the very first day I put the principle into practice.

Just the other day, I witnessed someone do the following in their bench routine.

This person started with the bar, which in most gyms is 45 pounds. They busted out a quick, easy set of 10 reps. They then put on 45-pound plates (135 pounds) and did another set of 10.

Then they went up to 155 pounds and did another 10 reps. Here's where they're starting to go wrong. They're beginning to use way too much energy on these warm-ups.

They then did another set with 175 pounds for 10 more reps, then 200 for a set of 8 reps. So far, 5 sets and this person hasn't even started their "heavy and intense" sets yet! They've wasted time, energy, and intensity all before it really even counted.

On the 6th set, they noticed they were starting to tire quickly and could only handle 210 for 5 reps. So this is where they stop the bench press portion of their workout figuring that since they are fatigued, they have worked the muscles sufficiently.

After talking briefly with this person, I realized they had been at this weight and unable to break past this plateau for months. They just assumed it's where they were meant to be, that they couldn't get any stronger.

So I gave him some tips I used to increase my bench press.

The most important one I used to increase my bench press was showing him how all of his warming up was wearing his strength down before he even got to the heavy sets of his bench!

I mentioned to him that he only needs to do just enough reps and sets for warm ups so that he feels ready to handle the heavy weight. It's basically priming the muscles, getting them ready to handle the increase in weight that's to come.

Think of it like a baseball pitcher getting ready to come into a game. First, he starts throwing real light and easy (warm up reps).

Then he begins throwing a little harder, getting his arm loosened up (acclimation sets). And before you know it, he's tossing the ball as hard as he can (heavy sets).

He doesn't just pick up a ball and begin throwing as hard as he can, he slowly works up to it.

I showed you how I increased my bench press. Click here to learn how to increase the amount of weight you use on all your lifts